The U.S. is pressuring Lithuania to resume exports of Belarusian potash fertilizers through the port of Klaipėda, which were halted after sanctions were imposed onAlexander Lukashenko’s regime, according to a Reuters report citing Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys.
According to Budrys, he had previously denied the existence of such pressure, but now “additional activity has appeared, from the U.S.” The Lithuanian foreign minister stressed that Vilnius supports EU sanctions on Belarusian potash and does not intend to negotiate resuming transit while the restrictions remain in force.
The issue concerns shipments by Belaruskali, one of the world’s largest producers of potash fertilizers. Until 2022, Belarus exported potash through the Lithuanian port of Klaipėda to India, China, and Brazil. The transit was halted after the U.S. imposed sanctions on Belaruskali over the crackdown on public protests that followed the 2020 presidential election, whose results Western countries did not recognize.
The European Union imposed sanctions on Belarusian potash in 2022 following the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and support in Minsk for the Kremlin’s war effort. The restrictions are set to remain in force at least until February 2027.
U.S. sanctions on Belarusian potash were lifted in March 2026 after a Washington-brokered deal under which Minsk released 250 political prisoners. John Coale, the U.S. president’s special envoy for Belarus, later told Lithuanian broadcaster LRT that resuming exports through Lithuania “would be beneficial to the United States.”
In March 2025, the Belarusian Investigative Center reported that Belaruskali continued supplying products to the EU in circumvention of sanctions. The investigation found that industrial halite salt produced by the sanctioned company was entering the EU through other firms under the label of Norta de-icing agent. Belaruskali confirmed to journalists that the agent is made from its halite, but said it is formally distributed by third parties.
